To Fly Away
by lrhaboggle
Summary: After years of rotting away in the darkness, Circus Baby finally perfects her plan of escape, but Ballora isn't sure what to make of it.


"Is someone there? Is it time for the show? I can hear somebody creeping through my room," Ballora murmured, voice soft and low. She turned her head, a whirring emitting from her neck joints. She was sure she'd heard somebody's soft, padding footsteps echoing her large, empty dance studio, but when not even the sound of frightened breathing came to her audio-sensors, she shook her head.

"Perhaps not," she sighed. Maybe it was just her, or maybe it was just the room settling, or maybe it was just a mouse. Either way, there was nothing there. It was just Ballora and her thoughts. Like always.

Ballora sighed again. She held a deep hatred for humanity because they were the reason she was stuck here, practically chained to the stage she never used anymore because nobody came to their pizzeria. Ballora missed those golden days more than words could say. She was willing to do anything to fly away and go back to when she danced and waltzed with the best of them! She longed for the time when she had eager young dancers always coming to her for help. Oh how she had loved the children! She loved to teach them how to dance and she loved to feel the gratitude and joy they seemed to radiate after every lesson. Ballora was a natural matriarch and proud of it too!

But now, Ballora had nobody to lead or teach or dance with. Not since the _accident_. She didn't blame Baby at all, loving her coworker too much to stay mad at her for more than maybe five nights, but she still missed the feeling of dancing. Oh, she could escape her stage and dance around her studio, but it wasn't the same. It was too dark and empty. There was no light, life, laughter or love. She wanted the kids and their joy again. But that wasn't possible. Those days were over forever. The idea broke Ballora's heart, or whatever the animatronic equal was.

"Ballora!" a little voice called out to the beautiful dancer and she turned her head towards the sound. She recognized from the voice that it was no human. Instead, it was one of her babies, her Minireenas. She and Baby had created them from spare parts a season after they first were left in the dark to rot. Baby made herself a few tiny animatronics called Bidybabs and they were her personal friends and minions. She acted as their mother, guiding and leading them while also keeping them happy and entertained. Ballora loved to watch Baby with the Bidybabs. She was so good to them, always looking out for them and playing with them.

Ballora loved her own little animatronics just like Baby loved hers. Ballora _adored_ her Minireenas. They became her new dance students and little friends since human children were out of the equation. Ballora was just as protective of her Minireenas as Baby was of her Bidybabs. The Minireenas were, after all, the only things Ballora really had in this world anymore. She was so protective of her little friends, in fact, that they were the reason Ballora was the most aggressive towards humans. Any night guard dumb enough to harm a Minireena never left the pizzeria. Ballora made sure of it… So now, the dancer turned to her little animatronic attentively.

"Yes, my darling? What is it?" Ballora's soothing voice echoed slowly off the spacious walls as she turned to her little servant.

"Baby wants to see you," the Minireena answered with a high-pitched voice. Ballora's facial plates shifted in interest.

"Ok. I'll go now. Thank you for telling me," she murmured, then she slid off her stage, music erupting from her chest. Ballora sighed and turned it off, now was not the time for dancing. But regardless of that, her movements were flowing and rhythmic. But that was just her programming.

"Yes, Baby?" Ballora asked once she reached the Circus Gallery. Though her eyes were forever shut and though Ballora only navigated by audio (the harsh reality of her life was too horrible to look upon), Ballora knew that Baby wasn't the only one here. She knew that the other animatronics were here too. She could hear their machinery whirring as they awaited their leader's orders and she could pick out each individual animatronic by their natural bodily sound alone.

"I've got a plan for escape," Baby replied. Then four other varied pitches gasped back.

An hour later, Ballora waltzed airily back to her stage. Her music had started again, but she hardly heard it. Her mind was elsewhere. Baby had proposed a plan of escape and it sounded like this one had a chance of working. See, they had come very close to escaping before, there was just one hurdle they were never able to overcome. That was the hurdle of disguise. They were giant robots. Even if they did manage to get out of the pizzeria, it never took long to find and recapture them. Now, though, Baby claimed to have a plan that would finally jump that one hurdle. What was that plan? Well, she was going to combine their memory cards into one small endoskeleton and then to have that endoskeleton hide in a human skin. It was a risky idea, but Ballora was the only one against the plan. Because of this, the plan was agreed to and Baby promised to set it in motion as soon as the pizzeria got its next night guard.

It was around this time that Ballora had taken her leave of Baby. While the others stayed back to discuss the plan, Baby directing them all from her stage while they sat down below, Ballora had left. She waltzed out of the room, Baby ignoring her as she did so, and then waltzed right back into her own gallery for some solitude. Ballora returned to her stage sullenly. How had life come to this? How had she gone from planning on how to teach eager youngsters how to dance ballet to planning on how to kill a human and steal his skin?

But, at the same time, despite her fear, Ballora couldn't deny excitement at the idea of an escape. Living in this joyless, empty tomb of a restaurant was awful and the controlled shocks were agonizing. Ballora always tried to be strong and rebel against her human tormentors, but a few hard shocks were all it ever took to get the poor ballerina to yield and obey their every order like a dumb dog. She hated it! It was humiliating and painful! It was why Ballora was the most aggressive animatronic. What she lacked in strength, she made up for in determination. The concept of escape, revenge, and man-hunting was a delightful one to her!

But, on the flip side, this new plan seemed insane. Besides, in order to get everybody in one body, that meant they needed to go to the Scooping Room. The place scared Ballora like nothing else! She lived in fear whenever people came in that they would drag her to that awful place and rip her innards out just to replace them and throw her back onto her stage. The pain of being torn open at least once a month was too much to bear. How could Ballora willingly go there? Besides, what would they all do with their newfound freedom? And how would Baby even find a victim? What human would be dumb enough to fall for her trick and how would she steal their skin?

Ballora shook her head again, allowing her music to fill her halls. She turned on some of the more old music that was in her servos that not many people requested simply because it wasn't as fun as the more upbeat tunes of today. But Ballora liked her classical music. It could be peaceful and soothing. It was just what she needed right now. Things were changing fast and Ballora was already getting a feeling that this plan might work, but she wasn't sure if this was a good thing or not.

At last, Ballora found a score she liked. She turned up the volume and began to dance and spin. All around her, little Minireenas were coming. They could sense their mother's worry and they began to climb up the walls to watch her ballet. Once again, although Ballora's eyes were sealed shut, she could sense that she was no longer on her own. A tiny smile flickered across her face and her facial plates shifted happily. She still thought the plan was mad, but the dancing had calmed her and the presence of her Minireenas helped her feel braver. Slowly, the music returned to her halls and her low, eerily charming voice echoed the dark and empty dance studio.

"It's so good to sing all day. To dance, to spin, to fly away…"

 **AN: This was just to outline how Baby came up with her plan and how she broke the news to the others but I wanted it to be told from Ballora's POV because she's probably my favorite animatronic (tied with Baby). In addition, this was meant to show some of the rivalry between Ballora and the others, especially Baby, that was hinted at in-game.**


End file.
